


In a Craft at the Edge of the Galaxy

by bar2d2s



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Teen Titans (Comics), Young Justice (Comics), Young Justice - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Star Wars Setting, Gen, Implied/Referenced Character Death, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-17
Updated: 2019-07-17
Packaged: 2020-06-30 08:25:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,458
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19849330
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bar2d2s/pseuds/bar2d2s
Summary: Post-Revenge of the Sith padawans on the run, trying to start anew.





	In a Craft at the Edge of the Galaxy

Bartholomew Allen was a particularly frustrating student, which was why he’d been assigned to the most patient master, Maxwell Mercury. At the end of the Clone Wars, while assisting in the rebuilding of a settlement on the planet Manchesta, their unit of clone troops suddenly turned on them. Holding them off on his own, Maxwell ordered his padawan to flee.

“Return to the planet of your birth, Bart. Find the first Bartholomew Allen. Tell him what has transpired here.”

At first, Bart refused to go, determined to fight to the last alongside his master. But Max had grown fond of the boy, as most mentors are wont to do, and would not let him.

“Never stop running, Bart. Keep moving, trust no one but the Force. Survive!” And with a mighty shove through the living Force, Max pushed Bart away and himself forward, into the oncoming army.

Bart made it off-planet in a stolen craft, not dropping out of hyperspace until he was certain he was far away from any prominent Republic, no, _Empire_ -occupied worlds. The message he received from master Obi-Wan Kenobi made him sick, but the way it echoed Max’s last words to him was almost a comfort. Trust in the Force. Okay. He could do that.

Bart’s home planet, Zentral, was in a particularly distant corner of the universe. After leaving the Jedi order, his grandfather had chosen it specifically to put as much distance between himself and Coruscant as possible. Which meant that if he wanted to get there alive, he’d need to stock up on supplies.

During the course of his training, Bart and Max had traveled to many different worlds, on some of which he was _sure_ he still had friends that would aid him on his journey. While acquiring food and a less recognizable weapon than his lightsaber, Bart was shocked to meet another surviving padawan, a Mirialan female named Cassandra. She was equally surprised to see him, but nonetheless glad. They mourned their masters together, Cassie agreeing to join him on his way home.

Forgetting to adjust for the nutritional needs of two people, Bart was forced to land on yet _another_ planet not a month into their journey to Zentral, where they picked up two more passengers; another set of former classmates, the Twi’lek Timm, and the Togruta Konel, who had only just recently lost their masters to the Order 66 massacre making its way across the galaxy. The loss was particularly devastating for them, as Konel’s master had actually been his elder brother, and Timm’s master had been the Jedi that first took him to the temple on Coruscant as an infant.

“Where are we going?” Timm finally thought to ask, after they’d already taken off from port.

“My home planet. It’s far away, another month’s journey or more.”

“And what are we going to do there?”

That...was a good question. In truth, Bart had no idea what they were going to do once they reached Zentral, he was just following Max’s last command: go home, and tell your grandfather what’s become of the Jedi order. Bart didn’t know his grandfather, or any of his family members for that matter, particularly well. He’d been taken from them as a baby, and raised in the temple. Would his grandfather even care?

“I don’t know.” He said truthfully, and it was as though Timm had exploded.

“You don’t _know_?! Then why are we following you halfway across the universe?!”

“What else are we supposed to do? Sit around and wait to die? At least on Zentral, we’re far enough away from the war that we’ll have space to breathe.” Bart argued back. He was tired, and he was hungry, and the place he thought of as home didn’t want him anymore. “Literally all I have left in the universe is my lightsaber, and the hope that my birth planet won’t be destroyed when we get there.“ Cassandra placed her hand on the top of his head.

“No, you have more than just that.“ She said, and he sighed.

“The Force.“

Her gentle hand curled, nails digging into his scalp. “I meant me! I won’t try to speak for Konel and Timm, but I’m prepared to go where you go.”

Bart smiled up at her, before looking over to where Timm and Konel were quietly discussing their own plans of action. Or so he thought.

“We have no plan!“ Konel finally announced, smile suspiciously broad. Beside him, a flustered Timm agreed. “We’ve got no plan, no allies in this quadrant of the galaxy, and as of that last port, no more money. You’re stuck with us, it seems.“

“I’m not used to running on spontaneity.“ Timm admitted, and it made sense. His master had been notoriously level-headed, with a plan for every possible scenario. Being adrift like this was probably a trauma of its own. “I apologize for-“ Bart waved his apology away, flippant to the last. 

“Hey, you panicked. Everyone panics sometimes. I panic like, ten times a day, right Cass?“

“More.“ She deadpanned, eyes smiling. “Last week he locked himself in the cargo hold for three hours because he thought we’d run out of meilooruns and that he’d never see them again.“

They laughed together, in the moment, but Bart would later overhear Timm ask of Konel, “We’re doomed, aren’t we?” The taller male shrugged, his lekku moving slightly with the action, and Timm’s lekku responded in kind. They were having a conversation within a conversation, one undecipherable to a human.

“We grew up with those two, we know we can trust them to have our backs. Isn’t that what matters, now?”

Before Timm could answer, Bart popped out of the narrow hallway leading to the two sleeping quarters. Their ship was small, compared to other crafts he could have stolen, and privacy was a hard luxury to come by.

“Max told me to trust no one but the Force on my journey home, and I disobeyed him almost immediately.“ This admission froze the pair in place. Cassie had talked at length with them all about her mentor D’anah, but Bart hadn’t offered up much about the last words of Max Mercury, just that he’d been instructed to go home. “But Max was old, the peers he trained with long reunited with the Force, so of course he’d think that way.“ That earned a small laugh from Konel, and Timm coughed to cover up the sound. “I don’t know what we’re going to do once we get to Zentral, but I figure we have some time to figure it out. Timm, you’re smart, you can come up with something.“

“And me?“ Konel prompted, but Bart just shrugged, grinning.

“Do what he tells you?“

This time, it was Timm that laughed. Full, body-shaking laughter, that seemed to bubble up from a place he’d forgotten he had access to. It surprised him, but it surprised Konel even more. “Du d’bhem!” He exclaimed, sweeping Timm up into his arms and giving him a little shake. “You’re back!”

Oh. Well then.

Bart had vague memories of Timm in the academy, before starting his padawan training. He’d been the first of them to pass the trials, to be chosen by a master. Bart remembers that he used to smile more, used to laugh with them. He guessed that Konel remembered those times, too. The noise brought Cassie out of their shared sleeping quarters, rubbing the sleep from her eyes. Her question is silent, aimed at him alone with a look: _what did you do?_

"I guess I told a joke?” He whispered to her, and Cassie shook her head.

“Tell quieter jokes, I was meditating.“ The trail of dried drool on her chin tells a different story, but Bart won’t say anything.

Instead, he leaves Timm and Konel to their rediscovery of joy, leaves Cassie to her ‘meditation’, and goes to sit in the craft’s cockpit. Staring out at the stars, he imagines that he can almost spot the cluster that contains Zentral, shining in the distance. If he closes his eyes, he can feel the living Force surrounding him, can almost hear Max asking him if it was worth it, surrendering his privacy and lengthening his journey home for people who might end up going their own separate ways afterwards.

“It is.“ He says out loud, and he can feel Max’s approval. _If this is what makes you happy..._ “It does.“ 

These are his friends, possibly the last Jedi in the universe. He will share everything he has with them, do anything he can to protect them. The Force brought them together, and he trusts in the Force.

The Force will guide them home, and he cannot wait to be there.


End file.
